Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformated in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 6 min.

Access Note / Rights:

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Summary:

An interview of Ruben Torres-Llorca conducted 1998 January 31, by Juan A. Martínez, in Torres Llora's home/studio, Miami, Florida, for the Archives of American Art.

Torres Llora discusses his early interest in art; his father, whom he never met, who was a talented commercial artist; studying art at San Alejandro Academy of Art, Havana and fellow students Jose Bedia and Ricardo Rodriguez Brey; graduate studies at Havana's Instituto Superior del Arte; participating in the "Volumen I" exhibition in 1981; travels to Mexico, where he began sculpture and installations; returning to Cuba and curating exhibitions of younger artists; moving to Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and since 1993, Miami; artistic influences, including literature, anthropology, sociololgy, film, and other disciplines on him; his mixed media figurative objects of the 1990s which tell a narrative, are socially oriented, and at best, provide a shared experience for the viewer.

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ruben Torres-Llorca, 1998 January 31. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Funding:

The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Biography Note:

Ruben Torres-Llorca (1957-) is a painter and sculptor in Miami, Florida.

Language Note:

Interview is in Spanish.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators. Funding for this interview provided by Smithsonian Institution's Latino Pool Fund.